Indoor clothesline construction



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Feb. 17, 1953 INDOOR CLOTHESLINE CONSTRUCTION Filed Nov. 22, 1948 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 llllllllllllll Vl/OS Earl Booth Harold B. Bergeson Carl 5. P0 f/s INVENTORS Patented Feb. 17, 1953 INDOOR CLOTHESLINE CONSTRUCTION Vilas Earl Booth and Harold B. Bergeson, Wilmington, and Carl B. Potts, Coal City, Ill.

Application November 22, 1948, Serial No. 61,362

This invention relates to a clothes line construction and more specifically to one adapted for indoor use and has for its primary object to provide an adjustable clothes line, which can be easily and conveniently raised to an inoperative position and lowered to an operative clothes carrying position.

Another important object of this invention is to provide a clothes line construction adapted for installation on the floor joists of a building, the clothes line being vertically and horizontally adjustable and having supporting members pivotally associated with the floor joists so that the same can be easily swung to an upper concealed position and lowered to an operative usable position.

Another important object of this invention is to provide a clothes line construction comprising a pair of bracket members adapted for attachment to a pair of spaced suspended supports,

means being associated with the bracket members for retaining the clothes line in a raised and lowered position.

A meritorious feature of this invention resides in the provision of a pair of supporting members, including a pair of tubular sleeves pivotally attached to a pair of supporting brackets with the supporting members slidably disposed in the sleeves and having transverse locking means for securing the supporting members in the desired adjusted position within the sleeve.

Another meritorious feature of this invention resides in the provision of a pivoted lever carried by one of the bracket members and having an integral projected hook portion adapted to engage a complementary hook formed on one of the tubular sleeves for the supporting members, the hooks when in engagement functioning to retain the clothes line in a lowered operative po: sition, means being provided for disengaging the hook in a convenient and easy manner.

Another meritorious feature of this invention resides in the provision of a locking member integrally depending from one of the bracket members and adapted to engage one of the supporting members for retaining the supporting members and the clothes line carried thereby in a raised locked position.

Another meritorious feature of this invention resides in the provision of means for adjusting the tension on the clothes line connected between the lower ends of the supporting members.

These and ancillary objects and other meritorious features are attained by this invention, a preferred embodiment of which is set forth in 1 Claim. (Cl. 211119.17)

the following description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a sectional view of a conventional floor and floor joist, illustrating the invention in elevation and in attachment thereto, with the same shown in a lowered operative position and illustrated in a raised inoperative placement;

Figure 2 is an enlarged elevational view of one of the supporting members and the securing bracket pivotally associated therewith, with the locking lever shown in looking engagement with the supporting member;

Figure 3 is a rear elevational view of the bracket member and supporting member illustrated in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a front elevational view of the other supporting member and its appurtenant retaming bracket;

v Figure 5 is a side elevational view of the bracket and supporting member illustrated in Figure 4, and;

Figure 6 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 66 of Figure 2.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, and in particular to Figure 1, there is shown a conventional floor l0 having a plurality 01 depending spaced floor joists 12, to which this invention, generally designated by the character reference 14 is attached. Of course, the clothes line device [4, may be easily and conveniently attached to any type of suspended support and is not limited to an indoor or outdoor use, although the preferred use is indoors in attachment to the floor joists as illustrated.

In carrying out this invention there is provided a supporting or retaining bracket 16 comprising a base I8 and a pair of parallel end walls 20 and 22. The end walls are provided with a plurality of apertures 23, to receive and accommodate suitable securing members for engagement in the floor joists l2. A pair of parallel webs 24 and 26 project integrally in vertical fashion from the center of the side 22 and the bottom I8. A tubular sleeve 28 is provided at its lower end with an extending apertured ear 3!) which is pivotally associated between the parallel webs 24 and 26 by a transverse pivot pin 32. A supporting rod-like member 34 is slidably disposed within the sleeve 28 and is provided with a series of vertically spaced transverse openings 36, the same being selectively registerable with a transverse opening 38 in the sleeve, a locking pin 40 being provided for securing the supporting member 34 in the sleeve 38 in the desired adjusted position. 1

In a similar manner, a bracket 42, identically formed with the bracket I6 is secured to a joist spaced from the attaching joist for the bracket 16. A tubular sleeve 44, similar to the sleeve 28. is pivotally attached as at 46 to the bracket and adjustably sup-ports a supporting member 48, in an adjustable manner similar to the adjustability of the supporting member 34 in the sleeve 28. The bracket 42 includes a stop 43 for the sleeve 44.

The lower ends of the supporting members 34 and 48 are apertured to receive a clothes line, such as rope or cable or the like 50. A turnbuckle 52 is interposed between the end of the supporting member 34 and the end 54 of the line 59 for adjusting the tension on the line, dependent upon the weight of the load carried thereby.

As depicted in dotted lines in Figure 1, the complementary supporting members 34 and 48 are adapted for horizontal positioning in a concealed manner, when th clothes line 50 is not desired for use. In this respect, a pair of outwardly bowed complementary resilient clamps 56 and 58 depend integrally from one side of the bracket 42. The clamping straps 56 and '58 are provided with outwardly flared extremities 60 and 62 so as to slidably engage and receive th supporting member 48. It can be seen that when the supporting member 48 is held by the clamps 56 and 58 in a raised position, the complementary supporting member 35 also assumes a raised horizontal position, due to the connecting clothes line 50.

Means is provided for locking the supporting members in a lowered vertical position, as shown in Figure 1, and comprises an elongated locking lever 64, which is laterally bent at its upper end, defining a lateral portion 66, the same terminating in a downwardly extending end 68. The downwardly extending end 68 extends inwardly between the parallel webs 24 and 26 and is pivotally attached therebetween by means of a transverse pivot pin 19. An eccentric or cam hook 12 integrally projects from the juncture of the lateral section 66 and the depending section 68, as seen in Figure 2. The hook 12 is adapted to engage in a U-shaped latching loop or lug l4 integrally extending from the tubular sleeve 28.

Thus, movement downwardly of the supporting members on their respective pivots 32 and 48 relative to a vertical position will place the latching lug 70 in alignment with the hook l2. whereupon movement of the lever will enable the hook to engage on the lug and lock the supporting members in their lowered position and draw the line tight between the supporting members.

Thus, it can be seen that there is provided a .convenient and dependable device, which can be easily attached to a pair of spaced suspending members and which can be compactly stored in a concealed position and readily assembled in an operative position.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

A clothes line comprising a pair of spaced brackets mounted on supports, a pair of rods mounted for swinging movement on said brackets, a clothes line connecting one end portion of the rods, means on one of the brackets for releasably securing the rods in parallelism, and means on the other of said brackets for releasably securing the rods in longitudinal alignment, the first named means including a loop on one of the rods, a lever pivotally mounted on said one bracket, and a cam hook on the pivoted end portion of the lever engageable in the loop.

VILAS EARL BOOTH. HAROLD B. BERGESON. CARL B. POTTS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re. 12,674 Marten July 23, 1907 486,804 Wood Nov. 22, 1892 938,009 Mazanek Oct. 26, 1909 1,262,920 Ohouvaldjy Apr. 16, 1918 1,645,179 Bunyan Oct/11 1927 1,697,977 I-Ienryson Jan. 8, 1929 1,713,447 Quigley May 14, 1929 2,202,193 Davis May 28, 1940 2,312,803 Curtenius Mar. 2, 1943 2,518,774 Grosser Aug. 15,' 1950 

